Why the Conservative party lost popularity between 1900-1905 Essay Example

Why the Conservative party lost popularity between 1900-1905 Paper The conservative party lost an enormous amount of popularity between the years 1900-1905, this loss of popularity affected them in the 1906 election, during the run up to the election certain things the conservatives did had an impact on the end outcome. I will be explaining these factors which I think were mostly to blame. The Anglo-Boer War in 1899-1902, the Taff vale decision in 1901 and the causes of Chinese slavery all had an impact on the loss of popularity. The Anglo-Boer war arose from an unexpected dispute; this was between the Dutch and the British. Reasons why the conservative’s party lost popularity were due to the conservatives provoking the war without a valid reason, the war started out of nowhere. Britain had intentions of becoming a powerful nation, in order to satisfy this Chamberlain made unreasonable demands on Boer, meaning Boer had no choice and they were forced to retaliate. The war was moving at a slow pace and nothing much was happening. It was obvious that the war was deliberately done making the people of Britain very upset, ‘Pro-Boers’ were known as people against Britain at war. The Pro-Boers questioned the morality and realism of their country, and how it was so obvious that it was purposely done. People of Britain were deprived and unhappy, this hate affected the conservative’s popularity and the public could not trust them in power. Therefore meant that many people opposed the conservatives in starting the Anglo-Boer, this clearly shows that it affected the public back home and it was obvious that the party wasn’t going to have support. This is one of the reasons why they lost popularity between 1900 and 1905. We will write a custom essay sample on Why the Conservative party lost popularity between 1900-1905 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Why the Conservative party lost popularity between 1900-1905 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Why the Conservative party lost popularity between 1900-1905 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In 1900, the Taff Vale Railway Company in South Wales went on strike with their union. However this strike caused major conflict between the Union and the company. The company did not accept the strike movement so they decided to hire non-union workers to replace the union ones. By doing this they took the opportunity to take the union workers to court for illegal picketing. The railway company won this case and the workers were forced to come back to work empty handed. After the victory of this case, the company took the union workers to the courts once again, this time the case went to the House of Lords, and The House of Lords accepted the company’s decision and the workers were highly disappointed that the conservatives were not in favour of the working class. Considering the House of Lords are mostly made up of wealthy individuals and are supporters of the conservative party, it was fairly quick for the British public to realise how ignorant the conservative party were to the working class. This shocked many people and this was possibly one of the main reasons why the Tories lost popularity. They clearly had no moral empathy towards the working class and they didn’t receive any acceptance or recognition from the working class. Once of the minor issues that affected the Tories popularity was when, Arthur Balfour was accused of Chinese Slaves in Africa working on gold and diamond mines. This was seen as very disrespectful, due to them making others work for them, it certainly was selfish of Balfour to do that. These slaves would work in appalling conditions. The public to hear these disheartening stories gave them a fright. People of Britain couldn’t penetrate why Balfour was doing such corruption to Britain as a country, setting out negativity to neighbouring countries. Over all the public was unhappy over the inadequacy of the government which would have lost party support and popularity. Between 1900-1905, the conservatives party was in a very bad position, due to many of their decisions, one of the factors that led them to loss of popularity was the Anglo-Boer war, the public reaction to the was not supportive. The manner of Britain was highly selfish and pointless, because they gained nothing from that war, it was unnecessary and a waste of time. Britain was embarrassed, and this is one of the reasons they lost their popularity. Using Chinese slaves to work in the gold and diamond mines in Africa was also an immense disappointment for the public, as they saw it as moral wrong doings. This put Balfour in a shameless position; he was hated by many and lost major support, setting out a bad example to the people of Britain and neighbouring countries. Lastly the most important and effective way they lost the acceptance was the Taff Vale decision, just because it was the decline of the workers not allowing them to go on strike even though they had the full backing and financial aid of their union, it was very unfair and it demonstrated that the Tories were not supporters of the working class, they were for the upper class, this controversy was one of the main reasons why they lost fame, it outweighed the other factors because they separated the workers into a group of their own with no supporters certainly wasn’t fair to the workers. This was definitely the main reason why the conservative party lost recognition and supporters.